No tips today — just some information that will hopefully help you get a feel for the type of business we operate.
Our best customers became regular clients because they noticed the three basic components to our strategy for getting them and and keeping them — be as competitive as possible with respect to price, provide extra value with every job, and meet every deadline. We’ve found that when we reach these 3 goals, we gain customers who are extremely loyal. The fact that an online vendor or even a local competitor offers a similar product or service for a few dollars less becomes a non-issue to them. It isn’t worth the uncertainty or the aggravation for our customers to switch vendors. Comfort is important to them, as it should be to everyone.
You can always find a lower price. Look hard enough and you’ll find someone who is so desperate for work that they’ll undercut the lowest price offered (which, by the way, was already too low). The internet is full of “great” deals, that is, until you actually buy and your order arrives late and not in the condition expected — and then you can’t even get through to speak with a human about it. We can’t compete with desperation, so we don’t bother trying. The process of chasing the lowest price always leads to the slaughterhouse. No thanks!
Calling vendor after vendor to find the lowest price, project after project looking only for who is the cheapest — some businesses do things this way. But there’s a huge drawback to using this method of purchasing: no mutually rewarding relationships result from a method which focuses solely on price. As regular consultants to event planners, graphic designers, marketers and others who strive to create perfect communications, we have a ton of experience and plenty of good advice ready to share with anyone who asks for it. But the people who purchase solely on price never tap into it. They’re too busy trying to save money to listen. And because of this they find themselves afloat at sea alone on every job.
With respect to our goal of providing extra value with every job, here’s a great example that you won’t find elsewhere. Our clients have also written about ways we’ve gone above and beyond the norm on our feedback page.
And with respect to deadlines, we thrive on crushing them. We never take a job we can’t complete on time. Read our policy on deadlines and you’ll know we mean business.
So if you’re looking for the best “price” in the area, broaden your thought process to include more than just the dollar figure quoted. Think about value as well as comfort. Consider giving us an opportunity to bid on your next project. When you look over our bid, factor our business strategy into your analysis of the best vendor for the job. We hope you’ll decide to do business with a company like ours that wants to support you in any way possible, who will never miss your deadline, and who will still be around the next time you need help making a project perfect.
Anyway, enough about us… back to work!